Tuesday, May 02, 2006

After reading about the various pantry challenges of other bloggers such as Jonathan and Caitlin, I've been meaning to do one myself. I don't have much kitchen storage space, so I actually don't have a huge amount of food that I need to eat my way through, but I do want to lower the inventory before I move. Also, as anyone could have guessed, I did not "make it" last month-- my dining expenses ended up being over budget so I am trying to eat cheap for a while.So last night I decided to cook a meal from the pantry and wash it down with a $3.99 ($3.99!!!) Pinot Grigio from Trader Joe's.I had pasta. I had frozen shrimp. I had a lemon and some garlic. I had some chicken bouillon and I had white wine. So I kind of cobbled together this dish with a little inspiration from Fannie Farmer and a little clueless WTF-ness-- always the most important ingredient!I boiled the pasta and put a little butter on it. I mixed the powdered bouillon with some warm water. I put a little oil in a frying pan, started to sautee a little garlic, and then dumped in the chicken broth, some white wine and some lemon juice. I salted and peppered it a bit and let it boil away on high heat. Meanwhile the frozen shrimp were thawing and when the sauce was starting to cook down a bit, I dumped the shrimp into it for a quick warm-up and then took the pan off the heat. Tossed the shrimp and sauce into the pasta and it was done. Was it Shrimp Scampi? Not quite-- I was missing a few ingredients for that, parsley and I'm not sure what else. What I ended up with was a bit watery as sauces go, but it was still very tasty and satisfying. I think it's hard to go wrong when garlic, lemon and white wine are involved. And I just remembered I had a jar of capers somewhere that I could have thrown in too, which might have added an interesting twist.

Speaking of the white wine, I am quite pleased with my Trader Joe's purchases. The "Three Buck Chuck" Chardonnay has been my least favorite so far, but I've never really been a chardonnay person to begin with-- and I thought it was better than a lot of other chardonnays I've had. This Pinot Grigio that I'm drinking tonight is really yummy, and I think it will replace the $8 stuff that had been my previous daily driver. That should save me a few bucks in the future.

That dish doesn't sound too bad. It's kind of fun yanking stuff out of the cabinets to make something to eat. I am not a weekly grocery shopper so I have to get creative a lot with sundried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, lentils, canned & frozen veggies, pasta and buillion cubes. It's worth it to keep a pantry with a few staples and soup. Campbell's cream based soups make good sauces on top of rice and some sauteed chicken if you're inclined to dine that way. I love food, but who's got the time or the money to make expensive gourmet meals at home all the time?

hmmm - I don't really get this concept... there isn't a huge amount of food in my kitchen and I always cook with what is there - i.e. I don't go out to buy specific ingredients for a meal. Am I missing something? :) Maybe cultural differences?

About Me

My name is Madame X, and I am a 40-something single woman living in New York's lower Hudson Valley. I write about how much money I make, what I spend it on, how much I save, how I budget, my home-buying experiences, my financial goals and ambitions, my thoughts on class and what it means to be rich or poor, and anything else that relates to money. (More about me here, here, and here.)If you take any of my advice, do so at your own risk as I am not really qualified to give it. If you have advice to share, please do, and many thanks!